Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category

SPARKED: A Live Interaction Between Humans and Quadcopters

Published on 22 Sep 2014

Cirque du Soleil, ETH Zurich, and Verity Studios have partnered to develop a short film featuring 10 quadcopters in a flying dance performance. The collaboration resulted in a unique, interactive choreography where humans and drones move in sync. Precise computer control allows for a large performance and movement vocabulary of the quadcopters and opens the door to many more applications in the future.

….”I had heard of this unspoken custom before moving to Sweden a couple of years ago. This untranslatable ethos is called lagom (pronounced: law-gum) and it permeates all facets of the Swedish psyche. Often misconstrued as indifference, or the stereotypical Scandinavian “coldness,” lagom is loosely translated from Swedish as “just the right amount,” “in moderation,” “appropriate,” and other such synonyms……

“The word lagom itself comes from a shortening of the phrase “laget om,” which literally means “around the team” and dates back to the Viking era between the eighth and 11th centuries. Communal horns filled with mjöd (fermented honey wine) would be passed around and everyone had to sip their own share and not a bit more. Sweden today might be known for cutting-edge design and fierce modernism, yet this Viking code of conduct remains ingrained in their mindset.”…..

Like this:

“With the nervous system, personalization inevitably happens through familial, social, and cultural relations, contexts and meanings. At the same time, the personalization involves neural wiring, epigenetic mechanisms, and developmental canalization. It is biocultural in the utmost sense of the word. And trying to make sense of these mutual dynamics is one of the main themes of the Culture, Mind and Brain conference that will take place in Los Angeles in a couple weeks.

In other words, “personalized medicine” cannot be disembodied medicine, forgetting the reciprocal interactions between the person’s nervous system and the developmental and social processes that help define who that person is, not just in the sense of identity but also at the level of basic neurological function. Personalized inevitably is social; personalized medicine should be too.”

AN : mental and emotional health are entwined with the social mileu of an individual. Any pathology can be positivly influenced by ones environment.

“People who go to museums and concerts or create art or play an instrument are more satisfied with their lives, regardless of how educated or rich they are, according to a study released Tuesday.

But the link between culture and feeling good about oneself is not quite the same in both sexes, according to the study, published in the British Medical Association’s Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

For men, passive activities such as taking in a concert or museum exhibition are associated with an upbeat mood and better health, it found.

For women, though, the link is active, in that they were less likely to feel anxious, depressed or feel unwell if they played music or created art.”